Kim Haines-Eitzen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195171297
- eISBN:
- 9780199918140
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171297.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, ...
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This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, to be more specific, to what extent were women authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons of early Christian literature? Second, how did the stories of women in early Christian literature come to be transformed in the process of copying? And can we detect the influence of debates about women in the earliest churches and debates about asceticism and the human body in the textual transmission of the New Testament and apocryphal texts? These questions serve to guide the book, which aims most broadly to highlight the gendered and layered history of early Christianity. The book argues that historians cannot avoid the inherently representational evidence for women writers and readers as well as the layered stories of female figures such as Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Theca; rather, by embracing the multiplicity of representations, scholars and students can attend simultaneously to rhetorical and literature constructions and historical reality.Less
This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, to be more specific, to what extent were women authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons of early Christian literature? Second, how did the stories of women in early Christian literature come to be transformed in the process of copying? And can we detect the influence of debates about women in the earliest churches and debates about asceticism and the human body in the textual transmission of the New Testament and apocryphal texts? These questions serve to guide the book, which aims most broadly to highlight the gendered and layered history of early Christianity. The book argues that historians cannot avoid the inherently representational evidence for women writers and readers as well as the layered stories of female figures such as Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Theca; rather, by embracing the multiplicity of representations, scholars and students can attend simultaneously to rhetorical and literature constructions and historical reality.
Christine Franzen
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117421
- eISBN:
- 9780191670954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117421.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The 13th-century Worcester scribe known as the ‘tremulous hand’ is well known as a glossator of Old English manuscripts. His shaky, leftward-sloping handwriting is found in at least twenty ...
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The 13th-century Worcester scribe known as the ‘tremulous hand’ is well known as a glossator of Old English manuscripts. His shaky, leftward-sloping handwriting is found in at least twenty manuscripts, most of which are known to have been in Worcester in the medieval period. His work consists mainly of interlinear and marginal glosses to Old English texts which are usually, but not exclusively, religious in nature. Some of the glosses are Middle English, but the vast majority are Latin. The amount of glossing varies a great deal from manuscript to manuscript and text to text: in some texts about one word in four may be glossed, while in others there may be only one or two glosses per page. This book provides a preliminary account of the tremulous scribe's work, in particular, it looks at what characterized his work in the early stages, how his methods changed and developed, and how he made use of sources and external aids.Less
The 13th-century Worcester scribe known as the ‘tremulous hand’ is well known as a glossator of Old English manuscripts. His shaky, leftward-sloping handwriting is found in at least twenty manuscripts, most of which are known to have been in Worcester in the medieval period. His work consists mainly of interlinear and marginal glosses to Old English texts which are usually, but not exclusively, religious in nature. Some of the glosses are Middle English, but the vast majority are Latin. The amount of glossing varies a great deal from manuscript to manuscript and text to text: in some texts about one word in four may be glossed, while in others there may be only one or two glosses per page. This book provides a preliminary account of the tremulous scribe's work, in particular, it looks at what characterized his work in the early stages, how his methods changed and developed, and how he made use of sources and external aids.
Teresa Webber
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203087
- eISBN:
- 9780191675706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203087.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, History of Religion
This chapter sums up the key findings of this book concerning the book collection and the scholars and scribes of Salisbury Cathedral during the late 11th to early 12th centuries. The Salisbury ...
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This chapter sums up the key findings of this book concerning the book collection and the scholars and scribes of Salisbury Cathedral during the late 11th to early 12th centuries. The Salisbury canons provide the earliest English examples of several important elements in the 12th-century renaissance including a renewed interest in the works of the patristic and classical auctores and a more ratiocinative scrutiny of the text of the Scripture. However, there is little evidence that developments of scholastic method at Salisbury were advanced and evidence suggests that the Salisbury canons seem to have preserved the traditional method of study following the ordo narrationis of the Bible.Less
This chapter sums up the key findings of this book concerning the book collection and the scholars and scribes of Salisbury Cathedral during the late 11th to early 12th centuries. The Salisbury canons provide the earliest English examples of several important elements in the 12th-century renaissance including a renewed interest in the works of the patristic and classical auctores and a more ratiocinative scrutiny of the text of the Scripture. However, there is little evidence that developments of scholastic method at Salisbury were advanced and evidence suggests that the Salisbury canons seem to have preserved the traditional method of study following the ordo narrationis of the Bible.
Michael Fishbane
- Published in print:
- 1988
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198266990
- eISBN:
- 9780191600593
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198266995.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Scribal practice provides the most concrete evidence for the transmission of a body of tradition, and of its elucidation and clarification. The nature and institution of scribal practice in ancient ...
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Scribal practice provides the most concrete evidence for the transmission of a body of tradition, and of its elucidation and clarification. The nature and institution of scribal practice in ancient Israel is considered. Various features of the scribal guilds of ancient Israel are presented, and numerous examples provided from diverse genres. Evidence for textual transmission in the form of colophons and title‐lines; of references to gathering and selecting materials; and the clarification and correction of texts is provided. Comparisons with related materials from the ancient Near East and various versions of Scripture (e.g. the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch) are made.Less
Scribal practice provides the most concrete evidence for the transmission of a body of tradition, and of its elucidation and clarification. The nature and institution of scribal practice in ancient Israel is considered. Various features of the scribal guilds of ancient Israel are presented, and numerous examples provided from diverse genres. Evidence for textual transmission in the form of colophons and title‐lines; of references to gathering and selecting materials; and the clarification and correction of texts is provided. Comparisons with related materials from the ancient Near East and various versions of Scripture (e.g. the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch) are made.
H. A. G. Houghton
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199545926
- eISBN:
- 9780191719974
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545926.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Despite the laborious process of copying by hand, a wide variety of books seems to have been available in the Church in North Africa. The collection at Hippo, supplemented by Augustine's personal ...
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Despite the laborious process of copying by hand, a wide variety of books seems to have been available in the Church in North Africa. The collection at Hippo, supplemented by Augustine's personal library, included Bibles in Latin and Greek and the works of several Church Fathers. Stenographers were used to transcribe sermons and public debates, as well as take down Augustine's theological works as he dictated them. These records give indications of how biblical codices were used for teaching and liturgical purposes.Less
Despite the laborious process of copying by hand, a wide variety of books seems to have been available in the Church in North Africa. The collection at Hippo, supplemented by Augustine's personal library, included Bibles in Latin and Greek and the works of several Church Fathers. Stenographers were used to transcribe sermons and public debates, as well as take down Augustine's theological works as he dictated them. These records give indications of how biblical codices were used for teaching and liturgical purposes.
Joshua A. Berman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374704
- eISBN:
- 9780199871438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374704.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Biblical Studies
This chapter examines the role that technology may have played in advancing the egalitarian platform. The adoption of the technology of the alphabetic script and its use in creating texts in ancient ...
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This chapter examines the role that technology may have played in advancing the egalitarian platform. The adoption of the technology of the alphabetic script and its use in creating texts in ancient Israel is a result of a dynamic relationship between technology, on the one hand, and a distinct theological and social mind frame on the other that is unafraid of educating the masses. In Mesopotamia and in Egypt, by contrast, texts were produced, read, memorized, and transmitted by a scribal elite, and composed in scripts that were inherently difficult to master—hieroglyphics and cuneiform. Literacy in ancient Israel was probably always the purview of professional scribes. But passages in Deuteronomy, Exodus and in the prophetic writings of the Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Habakuk suggest that such texts should be produced for the masses, read to them, remembered and transmitted by them. Examining the role of the printing press in the flourishing of 16th century Western Europe sheds insight into how the Bible sought to optimize the newfound technology of the alphabetic script in the southern Levant in an unprecedented manner, by utilizing the power of the alphabetic text and its potential for wide circulation. Whereas in Mesopotamia and in Egypt writing was turned inwards as a guarded source of power, in Israel it was turned outwards and reflected the Bible's egalitarian impulse. The dissemination of such texts through writing and reading to the masses accords with other biblical emphases such as the domestication of national religion, the shift from a cult of objects to a cult of words and ideas, and the rise of a national vernacular literature. An examination of the role and status of writing within Greek thought generally, and the thought of Plato in particular, highlights the special status accorded writing within biblical thought.Less
This chapter examines the role that technology may have played in advancing the egalitarian platform. The adoption of the technology of the alphabetic script and its use in creating texts in ancient Israel is a result of a dynamic relationship between technology, on the one hand, and a distinct theological and social mind frame on the other that is unafraid of educating the masses. In Mesopotamia and in Egypt, by contrast, texts were produced, read, memorized, and transmitted by a scribal elite, and composed in scripts that were inherently difficult to master—hieroglyphics and cuneiform. Literacy in ancient Israel was probably always the purview of professional scribes. But passages in Deuteronomy, Exodus and in the prophetic writings of the Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Habakuk suggest that such texts should be produced for the masses, read to them, remembered and transmitted by them. Examining the role of the printing press in the flourishing of 16th century Western Europe sheds insight into how the Bible sought to optimize the newfound technology of the alphabetic script in the southern Levant in an unprecedented manner, by utilizing the power of the alphabetic text and its potential for wide circulation. Whereas in Mesopotamia and in Egypt writing was turned inwards as a guarded source of power, in Israel it was turned outwards and reflected the Bible's egalitarian impulse. The dissemination of such texts through writing and reading to the masses accords with other biblical emphases such as the domestication of national religion, the shift from a cult of objects to a cult of words and ideas, and the rise of a national vernacular literature. An examination of the role and status of writing within Greek thought generally, and the thought of Plato in particular, highlights the special status accorded writing within biblical thought.
Günter Burkard
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265420
- eISBN:
- 9780191760471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265420.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Amunnakht, scribe in the necropolis of Deir el-Medina, is a well-known figure in Ancient Egyptian history. He was active in the reigns of Ramses III to Ramses VI. From his quill we have not only ...
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Amunnakht, scribe in the necropolis of Deir el-Medina, is a well-known figure in Ancient Egyptian history. He was active in the reigns of Ramses III to Ramses VI. From his quill we have not only administrative records but also a series of literary and didactic texts. In addition to the six literary pieces, mostly fragments, ascribed to him previously, a new one, the fragment of a hymn or eulogy to one of these kings, is preserved in Ostracon O Berlin P 14262. After a hieroglyphic transliteration, phonetic transcription, translation, and detailed commentary, the question of whether Amunnakht was the author or simply the copyist of this and some — or all — of the other texts in question is discussed.Less
Amunnakht, scribe in the necropolis of Deir el-Medina, is a well-known figure in Ancient Egyptian history. He was active in the reigns of Ramses III to Ramses VI. From his quill we have not only administrative records but also a series of literary and didactic texts. In addition to the six literary pieces, mostly fragments, ascribed to him previously, a new one, the fragment of a hymn or eulogy to one of these kings, is preserved in Ostracon O Berlin P 14262. After a hieroglyphic transliteration, phonetic transcription, translation, and detailed commentary, the question of whether Amunnakht was the author or simply the copyist of this and some — or all — of the other texts in question is discussed.
Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691169880
- eISBN:
- 9780691184463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691169880.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This concluding chapter argues that the history of the pericope adulterae reveals as much about the changing priorities of scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an “initial text” of John. ...
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This concluding chapter argues that the history of the pericope adulterae reveals as much about the changing priorities of scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an “initial text” of John. Local liturgical habits also had a tremendous impact on what could survive as an “authentic” gospel memory. The study's survey of the evidence shows that the story was interpolated into a Greek copy of John in the West, probably during the first half of the third century, and with great care; that the Johannine pericope was then gradually but decisively brought into texts, liturgy, and art in Greek and Latin, albeit at different rates; and thus that the story was not actively suppressed on theological grounds, either in its initial version or in its Johannine forms, despite the custom among some Byzantine scribes and scholars of identifying the passage as spurious.Less
This concluding chapter argues that the history of the pericope adulterae reveals as much about the changing priorities of scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an “initial text” of John. Local liturgical habits also had a tremendous impact on what could survive as an “authentic” gospel memory. The study's survey of the evidence shows that the story was interpolated into a Greek copy of John in the West, probably during the first half of the third century, and with great care; that the Johannine pericope was then gradually but decisively brought into texts, liturgy, and art in Greek and Latin, albeit at different rates; and thus that the story was not actively suppressed on theological grounds, either in its initial version or in its Johannine forms, despite the custom among some Byzantine scribes and scholars of identifying the passage as spurious.
Pushpa Prasad
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195684476
- eISBN:
- 9780199082100
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195684476.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
The Lekhapaddhati, whose translation with full annotation is offered in this volume, is unique in the whole body of ancient Sanskrit texts. It is a collection of actual or specimen documents (lekhas) ...
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The Lekhapaddhati, whose translation with full annotation is offered in this volume, is unique in the whole body of ancient Sanskrit texts. It is a collection of actual or specimen documents (lekhas) by unknown compiler, in use for public transactions, administration, rules for drafting land grants, treaties between kings, credit and banking system, mortgage deeds, creditor (dhanika/vyavahāraka) and debtor’s relations, judicial disputes, and private letters. Presumably, written as a guide for official scribes and professional letter writers, it is the sole non-epigraphic repository of grants and other public and private documents from early medieval India. These cover the eighth to the thirteenth centuries and relate to pre-Sultanate period of Gujarat. Their genuineness is shown by the fact that the texts of the royal grants or charter (patra) in this collection match closely with the texts from copper-plates. The large compass of other documents reveal many aspects of daily life, social customs which otherwise would remain obscure. Remarkable, for example, are the slavery deeds which show how much were girl slaves under the control of their masters and how caste taboos were utterly set aside where work by, or treatment of, female slaves was concerned. On what has been called ‘Indian feudalism’, the Lekhapaddhati’s evidence has been extensively used by the propounder’s of the theory as well as its critics. But it has to be remembered that the Lekhapaddhati has also much on trade, bills and drafts, land grants as a gift, and affairs of private life. Here we meet the lordly rulers, the stern officials, the gentlemen in town, the merchant, the slave master, the careless wife, and the forgetful husband. The book should appeal to those who want to look beyond the dynastic history, to the history of everyday life, private and official.Less
The Lekhapaddhati, whose translation with full annotation is offered in this volume, is unique in the whole body of ancient Sanskrit texts. It is a collection of actual or specimen documents (lekhas) by unknown compiler, in use for public transactions, administration, rules for drafting land grants, treaties between kings, credit and banking system, mortgage deeds, creditor (dhanika/vyavahāraka) and debtor’s relations, judicial disputes, and private letters. Presumably, written as a guide for official scribes and professional letter writers, it is the sole non-epigraphic repository of grants and other public and private documents from early medieval India. These cover the eighth to the thirteenth centuries and relate to pre-Sultanate period of Gujarat. Their genuineness is shown by the fact that the texts of the royal grants or charter (patra) in this collection match closely with the texts from copper-plates. The large compass of other documents reveal many aspects of daily life, social customs which otherwise would remain obscure. Remarkable, for example, are the slavery deeds which show how much were girl slaves under the control of their masters and how caste taboos were utterly set aside where work by, or treatment of, female slaves was concerned. On what has been called ‘Indian feudalism’, the Lekhapaddhati’s evidence has been extensively used by the propounder’s of the theory as well as its critics. But it has to be remembered that the Lekhapaddhati has also much on trade, bills and drafts, land grants as a gift, and affairs of private life. Here we meet the lordly rulers, the stern officials, the gentlemen in town, the merchant, the slave master, the careless wife, and the forgetful husband. The book should appeal to those who want to look beyond the dynastic history, to the history of everyday life, private and official.
Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195153859
- eISBN:
- 9780199834051
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195153855.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
Deals with some aspects of the author's own ongoing research on Mandaean colophons, including the postscripts, which are called tariks. Colophons form family trees because they list names and thereby ...
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Deals with some aspects of the author's own ongoing research on Mandaean colophons, including the postscripts, which are called tariks. Colophons form family trees because they list names and thereby show the vital threads of scribal lineages through the centuries. The names of a great number of copyist priests, the colophons present nothing less than an unbroken Mandaean history. A translation of an entire tarik from one of the Manuscript A (1560) in Petermann's Ginza is included.Less
Deals with some aspects of the author's own ongoing research on Mandaean colophons, including the postscripts, which are called tariks. Colophons form family trees because they list names and thereby show the vital threads of scribal lineages through the centuries. The names of a great number of copyist priests, the colophons present nothing less than an unbroken Mandaean history. A translation of an entire tarik from one of the Manuscript A (1560) in Petermann's Ginza is included.
Martin S. Jaffee
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195140675
- eISBN:
- 9780199834334
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195140672.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Traces the earliest evidence in Tannaitic texts for the idea that rabbinic halakhic tradition and other oral‐literary traditions stem from a Mosaic origin. Building upon chapter four's discussion of ...
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Traces the earliest evidence in Tannaitic texts for the idea that rabbinic halakhic tradition and other oral‐literary traditions stem from a Mosaic origin. Building upon chapter four's discussion of “halakhah to Moses from Sinai,” the chapter studies key Tannaitic terms (e.g., “essence of the Torah,” “words of the Scribes”), tracking shifts in their meaning from the Mishnah, the Tosefta, and the earliest Tannaitic collections of midrashic commentaries on the Torah. The chapter concludes that there seems to be a tendency in the Tosefta and the midrashic commentaries to bring halakhic tradition of various times into close proximity to the idea of Sinaitic revelation.Less
Traces the earliest evidence in Tannaitic texts for the idea that rabbinic halakhic tradition and other oral‐literary traditions stem from a Mosaic origin. Building upon chapter four's discussion of “halakhah to Moses from Sinai,” the chapter studies key Tannaitic terms (e.g., “essence of the Torah,” “words of the Scribes”), tracking shifts in their meaning from the Mishnah, the Tosefta, and the earliest Tannaitic collections of midrashic commentaries on the Torah. The chapter concludes that there seems to be a tendency in the Tosefta and the midrashic commentaries to bring halakhic tradition of various times into close proximity to the idea of Sinaitic revelation.
JILL MIDDLEMAS
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199283866
- eISBN:
- 9780191603457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199283869.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
In this chapter, three sources of information — the historical presentation of the Hebrew Bible supplemented by ancient Near Eastern documentation where applicable, the evidence of the material ...
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In this chapter, three sources of information — the historical presentation of the Hebrew Bible supplemented by ancient Near Eastern documentation where applicable, the evidence of the material culture available from excavations and surveys, and the impact of Babylonian rule on the region — are brought together to construct a holistic portrait of the situation in Templeless Judah. The chapter begins with a reconstruction of sixth-century Judah from the perspective of the biblical portrait, as it is important when examining this period to be aware of how the biblical writers understood the events of the sixth century and how they portrayed them. Other sources of information about the period such as those from the archaeological record and an understanding of the Babylonian empire are used to elucidate the historical details available from biblical and extra-biblical sources. Despite devastation and severe disruption, certain clues indicated the resumption of activity and the existence of a stable infrastructure within which cultic ritual continued.Less
In this chapter, three sources of information — the historical presentation of the Hebrew Bible supplemented by ancient Near Eastern documentation where applicable, the evidence of the material culture available from excavations and surveys, and the impact of Babylonian rule on the region — are brought together to construct a holistic portrait of the situation in Templeless Judah. The chapter begins with a reconstruction of sixth-century Judah from the perspective of the biblical portrait, as it is important when examining this period to be aware of how the biblical writers understood the events of the sixth century and how they portrayed them. Other sources of information about the period such as those from the archaeological record and an understanding of the Babylonian empire are used to elucidate the historical details available from biblical and extra-biblical sources. Despite devastation and severe disruption, certain clues indicated the resumption of activity and the existence of a stable infrastructure within which cultic ritual continued.
Marie Noonan Sabin
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195143591
- eISBN:
- 9780199834600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195143590.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Sabin reads the Temple‐cleansing scene in the framework of Maccabees, The Parable of the Fig Tree in the context of Genesis, and the Parable of the Vineyard in the context of the Prophets, seeing ...
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Sabin reads the Temple‐cleansing scene in the framework of Maccabees, The Parable of the Fig Tree in the context of Genesis, and the Parable of the Vineyard in the context of the Prophets, seeing these linked episodes as a midrashic lexicon stressing the hope that the Temple would be restored. Reading Jesus's debates in the Temple in the framework of the four sons’ questions in an ancient Passover liturgy, she sees them serving to discriminate between the righteous and the unrighteous within Judaism, with Jesus himself in perfect agreement with the righteous Temple scribe. Sabin perceives the accusations that Jesus planned to destroy the Temple to be false, in keeping with a pattern evident in the Psalms, Lamentations, and the Wisdom of Solomon, all of which describe false witnesses who condemn God's righteous one through untruthful accusations. In conclusion, she discusses the rending of the sanctuary veil in Mark 15:38, suggesting that the verb Mark uses here – schizo – recalls Isaiah's prayer to God to take back his sanctuary (Isa 63), as well as the opening up of the heavens in Mark 1:10. Sabin argues that by means of these interweaving scriptural frameworks, Mark takes the reader on an exegetical journey that moves from cleansing the Temple of its profanation to the revelation of where God dwells – not in a majestic building but in human life and death, even death on a cross.Less
Sabin reads the Temple‐cleansing scene in the framework of Maccabees, The Parable of the Fig Tree in the context of Genesis, and the Parable of the Vineyard in the context of the Prophets, seeing these linked episodes as a midrashic lexicon stressing the hope that the Temple would be restored. Reading Jesus's debates in the Temple in the framework of the four sons’ questions in an ancient Passover liturgy, she sees them serving to discriminate between the righteous and the unrighteous within Judaism, with Jesus himself in perfect agreement with the righteous Temple scribe. Sabin perceives the accusations that Jesus planned to destroy the Temple to be false, in keeping with a pattern evident in the Psalms, Lamentations, and the Wisdom of Solomon, all of which describe false witnesses who condemn God's righteous one through untruthful accusations. In conclusion, she discusses the rending of the sanctuary veil in Mark 15:38, suggesting that the verb Mark uses here – schizo – recalls Isaiah's prayer to God to take back his sanctuary (Isa 63), as well as the opening up of the heavens in Mark 1:10. Sabin argues that by means of these interweaving scriptural frameworks, Mark takes the reader on an exegetical journey that moves from cleansing the Temple of its profanation to the revelation of where God dwells – not in a majestic building but in human life and death, even death on a cross.
Marc Van De Mieroop
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157184
- eISBN:
- 9781400874118
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157184.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines Babylonian divinatory writings that guided the interpretation of the signs of the gods, with particular emphasis on the omen lists. These writings are overly abundant and highly ...
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This chapter examines Babylonian divinatory writings that guided the interpretation of the signs of the gods, with particular emphasis on the omen lists. These writings are overly abundant and highly systematized, and they fit perfectly within Babylonian philosophy in general. They can be interpreted as the height of Babylonian writings on epistemology, as they provide the most detailed evidence on the hermeneutical systems behind knowledge—albeit of something we do not consider knowable. The chapter first provides an overview of divination as practiced by ancient Babylonians before turning to the divination specialists in Assurbanipal’s court—scribes, haruspices, exorcists, physicians, and lamentation chanters—and their texts to show how highly educated they were and how literate the nature of their knowledge was.Less
This chapter examines Babylonian divinatory writings that guided the interpretation of the signs of the gods, with particular emphasis on the omen lists. These writings are overly abundant and highly systematized, and they fit perfectly within Babylonian philosophy in general. They can be interpreted as the height of Babylonian writings on epistemology, as they provide the most detailed evidence on the hermeneutical systems behind knowledge—albeit of something we do not consider knowable. The chapter first provides an overview of divination as practiced by ancient Babylonians before turning to the divination specialists in Assurbanipal’s court—scribes, haruspices, exorcists, physicians, and lamentation chanters—and their texts to show how highly educated they were and how literate the nature of their knowledge was.
Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691169880
- eISBN:
- 9780691184463
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691169880.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The story of the woman taken in adultery features a dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over whether the adulteress should be stoned as the law commands. In response, Jesus ...
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The story of the woman taken in adultery features a dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over whether the adulteress should be stoned as the law commands. In response, Jesus famously states, “Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” This book traces the history of this provocative story from its first appearance to its enduring presence today. Likely added to the Gospel of John in the third century, the passage is often held up by modern critics as an example of textual corruption by early Christian scribes and editors, yet a judgment of corruption obscures the warm embrace the story actually received. The book traces the story's incorporation into Gospel books, liturgical practices, storytelling, and art, overturning the mistaken perception that it was either peripheral or suppressed, even in the Greek East. It explores the story's many different meanings. Taken as an illustration of the expansiveness of Christ's mercy, the purported superiority of Christians over Jews, the necessity of penance, and more, this vivid episode has invited any number of creative receptions. This history reveals as much about the changing priorities of audiences, scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an “original” text of John. The book calls attention to significant shifts in Christian book cultures and the enduring impact of oral tradition on the preservation—and destabilization—of scripture.Less
The story of the woman taken in adultery features a dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over whether the adulteress should be stoned as the law commands. In response, Jesus famously states, “Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” This book traces the history of this provocative story from its first appearance to its enduring presence today. Likely added to the Gospel of John in the third century, the passage is often held up by modern critics as an example of textual corruption by early Christian scribes and editors, yet a judgment of corruption obscures the warm embrace the story actually received. The book traces the story's incorporation into Gospel books, liturgical practices, storytelling, and art, overturning the mistaken perception that it was either peripheral or suppressed, even in the Greek East. It explores the story's many different meanings. Taken as an illustration of the expansiveness of Christ's mercy, the purported superiority of Christians over Jews, the necessity of penance, and more, this vivid episode has invited any number of creative receptions. This history reveals as much about the changing priorities of audiences, scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an “original” text of John. The book calls attention to significant shifts in Christian book cultures and the enduring impact of oral tradition on the preservation—and destabilization—of scripture.
Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691169880
- eISBN:
- 9780691184463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691169880.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter looks at editorial work, Gospel translation, traditions for reception, and attitudes toward the fourfold Gospels among late ancient scribes and scholars to illuminate the evidence of the ...
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This chapter looks at editorial work, Gospel translation, traditions for reception, and attitudes toward the fourfold Gospels among late ancient scribes and scholars to illuminate the evidence of the pericope adulterae appearing only “in certain Gospels.” After nearly two centuries of spirited defense of the fourfold Gospels, as well as an uptick in biblical scholarship, the difficulty presented by the omission of the pericope adulterae from the four acknowledged Gospels had finally emerged as a worthy topic, at least in some quarters. Among Latin-speaking Christians, the story found a safe home and was incorporated in Jerome's new translation. In exclusively Greek contexts, however, the story was initially ignored, probably because it was omitted from many of the available copies of the Gospel of John.Less
This chapter looks at editorial work, Gospel translation, traditions for reception, and attitudes toward the fourfold Gospels among late ancient scribes and scholars to illuminate the evidence of the pericope adulterae appearing only “in certain Gospels.” After nearly two centuries of spirited defense of the fourfold Gospels, as well as an uptick in biblical scholarship, the difficulty presented by the omission of the pericope adulterae from the four acknowledged Gospels had finally emerged as a worthy topic, at least in some quarters. Among Latin-speaking Christians, the story found a safe home and was incorporated in Jerome's new translation. In exclusively Greek contexts, however, the story was initially ignored, probably because it was omitted from many of the available copies of the Gospel of John.
Jane Stevenson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198185024
- eISBN:
- 9780191714238
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198185024.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Women's Literature
This chapter discusses the education and culture of noblewomen of the late Roman empire and successor states. It presents evidence for the literary culture of Radegund of Poitiers and later medieval ...
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This chapter discusses the education and culture of noblewomen of the late Roman empire and successor states. It presents evidence for the literary culture of Radegund of Poitiers and later medieval royal women of the Merovingian, Carolingian, and Ottonian dynasties, and their involvement with education and the promotion of scholarship. Further evidence for literary culture in convents, and nuns as scribes and chroniclers is provided. The chapter includes specific sections on Dhuoda, educated women in Anglo-Saxon England, particularly in the circle of St Boniface, the playwright Hrotsvitha, and educated women in the Ottonian world, ending with a discussion of anonymous lyric verse in Latin.Less
This chapter discusses the education and culture of noblewomen of the late Roman empire and successor states. It presents evidence for the literary culture of Radegund of Poitiers and later medieval royal women of the Merovingian, Carolingian, and Ottonian dynasties, and their involvement with education and the promotion of scholarship. Further evidence for literary culture in convents, and nuns as scribes and chroniclers is provided. The chapter includes specific sections on Dhuoda, educated women in Anglo-Saxon England, particularly in the circle of St Boniface, the playwright Hrotsvitha, and educated women in the Ottonian world, ending with a discussion of anonymous lyric verse in Latin.
Teresa Webber
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203087
- eISBN:
- 9780191675706
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203087.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, History of Religion
This is a study of the books of Salisbury Cathedral and their scribes in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. These manuscripts form the largest collection to have survived from any English ...
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This is a study of the books of Salisbury Cathedral and their scribes in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. These manuscripts form the largest collection to have survived from any English centre in the period following the Norman Conquest, and they bear witness to the energetic scribal and scholarly activities of a community of intelligent and able men. The author of this book traces the interests and activities of the canons of Salisbury Cathedral from the evidence of their books. She reveals to us a lively Anglo-Norman centre of scholarship and religious devotion. Her study combines detailed palaeographic research with a keen understanding of medieval cultural and intellectual life.Less
This is a study of the books of Salisbury Cathedral and their scribes in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. These manuscripts form the largest collection to have survived from any English centre in the period following the Norman Conquest, and they bear witness to the energetic scribal and scholarly activities of a community of intelligent and able men. The author of this book traces the interests and activities of the canons of Salisbury Cathedral from the evidence of their books. She reveals to us a lively Anglo-Norman centre of scholarship and religious devotion. Her study combines detailed palaeographic research with a keen understanding of medieval cultural and intellectual life.
Susanna Fein
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265833
- eISBN:
- 9780191771996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265833.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
In the study of medieval manuscripts, an individual scribe’s patterns of change may emerge as knowable, analysable features that display creative involvement. If, added to this circumstance, a single ...
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In the study of medieval manuscripts, an individual scribe’s patterns of change may emerge as knowable, analysable features that display creative involvement. If, added to this circumstance, a single scrivener possesses a sizeable amount of surviving output, opportunities to know that scribe as an specific ‘author’ in the process of cumulative composition expand greatly. The study of vernacular literary manuscripts has now reached a point where many scribes with large and interesting oeuvres have been identified. By designating a new category, ‘literary scribe’, we can differentiate these special scribes from the many other unknowable copyists, and allow their oeuvres to be analysed in ways analogous to the criticism applied to authors. Case studies are provided for two important literary scribes: the Ludlow scribe who created British Library, MS Harley 2253, fols 49–140, and Robert Thornton of Yorkshire, who created Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91 and British Library, MS Additional 31042.Less
In the study of medieval manuscripts, an individual scribe’s patterns of change may emerge as knowable, analysable features that display creative involvement. If, added to this circumstance, a single scrivener possesses a sizeable amount of surviving output, opportunities to know that scribe as an specific ‘author’ in the process of cumulative composition expand greatly. The study of vernacular literary manuscripts has now reached a point where many scribes with large and interesting oeuvres have been identified. By designating a new category, ‘literary scribe’, we can differentiate these special scribes from the many other unknowable copyists, and allow their oeuvres to be analysed in ways analogous to the criticism applied to authors. Case studies are provided for two important literary scribes: the Ludlow scribe who created British Library, MS Harley 2253, fols 49–140, and Robert Thornton of Yorkshire, who created Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91 and British Library, MS Additional 31042.
Kim Haines-Eitzen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195171297
- eISBN:
- 9780199918140
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171297.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter focuses on the roles women had in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christian literature. Evidence for women as authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons ...
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This chapter focuses on the roles women had in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christian literature. Evidence for women as authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons appears in the literary, papyrological, and epigraphic remains. Although normally minimized, the chapter argues that understanding the participation of women in ancient/early Christian “book culture” is important for understanding the dynamics of book production and reception in early Christianity.Less
This chapter focuses on the roles women had in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christian literature. Evidence for women as authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons appears in the literary, papyrological, and epigraphic remains. Although normally minimized, the chapter argues that understanding the participation of women in ancient/early Christian “book culture” is important for understanding the dynamics of book production and reception in early Christianity.
